Small Town Worship
by honeycloud
Summary: When the Team goes to Milsberth, CA the case turns south when the line between hero and villain turns slim and one of their own gets caught in the middle of it.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hi everyone I hope you'll like this is going to center around Reid a bit so be prepared! The first chapter is a kinda a bor with info and such but once the team gets down to business you'll be a the edge of your seat! (This takes place somewhere around prentice leaving and the team on the search for a new agent so its just the 6 of them and the town is a made up town btw ) anyway I hope you guys like it and don't forget to review I also appreciate your advice and welcome your opinions, please sit back and relax and have a good read~ 3** **p.s i don't own cm or its characters ;O**

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 _"_ _Nearly all men stand adversity, But if you want to test a man's character, give him power"-Abraham Lincoln_

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"Tell me again why we had to get here at five am?" JJ asked in an annoyed tone as she sat herself down in one of the seats closest to the window on the private jet. It was still dark outside, but the sun was slowly rising in the distance.

Hotch looked at JJ from the seat across from him "Because we have a 5-hour plane ride and a very inpatient PD waiting for us." Hotch had already been on the plane after getting the call from Milsberth, CA police department, 'I guess they forgot the time difference that or they didn't care', he thought as he picked up a stack of folders from the chair next to him and placed it on the table between them. Just then, Rossi and Morgan walked onto the plane followed by a very tired Reid who immediately sat on the couch claiming it as his own for the next 5-hours.

Hotch stood up and handed each one a folder. "Thank you all for getting here on such short notice." Hotch said after handing the last folder to Morgan and sitting back to his seat.

"No problem, I got the text about the case but what's so important that we had to leave this early?" Morgan asked Hotch. Morgan knew that in certain cases the team needed to act quickly, like a kidnapping or hostage scenario, but based off the reports this looked like just their average unsub.

"Must be a bad one." Rossie added as he started to sit in the seat next to JJ Looking down at the case file hotched handed to him then up as he met eyes with Hotch.

"It is," Hotch replied with an indifferent tone. The team exchanged worried glances with each other as Hotch began to read the report. "Seven people in the past month were killed in the small town of Millsberth, California. The local police department didn't think there was a connection till the latest victims." Hotch then opened his laptop setting it on the table for the team to see. He would have wanted Garcia to help present the crime scene photos but because of the time and the suddenness of the case he decided to present them himself. "Each victim were found in their homes. Two women and the rest men. The local PD didn't connect them because of the age difference between victims and the cause of death was reported as heart failure. They all suspected it was a natural death, but it wasn't until the last three victims that the unsub started to show its signature."

Reid looked at the photos that appeared on the screen, squinting his eyes. Reid observed the crime scene. "All the victims were in their bed as if they were sleeping, but our unsub then moved them to this stiff unnatural position." Reid offered to the conversation.

JJ nodded as she looked at Reid "It's like the unsub started to plan where he wanted to place his victims more intently with after each kill."

"But what makes the PD call as this early in the morning" Rossie added as he looked over to Morgan, then Hotch.

Hotch looked at Rossie then clicked on the laptop showing the 7 photos of the victims which where also shown in the case files. "All the victims had ties with governmental buildings, jobs and some sort of ruling power." Hotch said before pulling out a couple papers from the case folder "The first victim was a local retired teacher at the age of 65 the next four worked or had worked in government buildings such as court, law, and even postal, at ages 36-72. And the last were also retired police officers ages 56 and 53"

JJ spoke up, "Wait if this is a government attack why weren't we notified? You said this went on for a month, why didn't the Chief call us sooner?" JJ looked around at her fellow team mates with a confused expression.

Hotch sighed as he looked to JJ "I'm not sure but what matters is where getting there now."

"Something in the crime scene doesn't make sense..." Reid thought aloud as he looked closely at the report of the victims. He knew he was missing something he just couldn't put his finger on it. Reid looked at the reports over and over again, what was he missing?

Morgan looked over as Reid flipped through the pages back and forth he faces inches away from the paper. "Hey, what is it? I can see your brain moving from here." Morgan grinned as he asked Reid.

Reid looked up at Morgan with a muddled look as he leaned back into the couch. "I know there's something here I'm missing, but I'm not sure what." Reid then crossed his arms bringing his hand up to his chin, his iconic thinking face.

Morgan walked past him patting his shoulder as he sat in the seat closest to him "well I'm sure you'll figure it out. You always do."

Reid nodded but still looked a bit puzzled. Maybe after some sleep he could help him figure out what he missed, it was early after all, and it was going to be a long trip to Millsberth, California.

Hotch closed the folders and looked around at his team "Lets rebreiff once we get to the station. It's a long trip, get some rest in the time being." Everyone agreed and some got themselves comfortable. Reid layed down on the couch, Morgan put his headphones on as he leaned back in the chair, JJ rested her hand on her cheek looking out the window, and Rossie and Hotch settled in their chairs closing the eyes as he reflected on the case and what they would do once they got there.

~CM~CM~CM~CM~CM~CM~CM~CM~CM~CM~CM~CM~CM~CM~

Five hours had past and the team just got off the plane, jumping into the black SUV's awaiting their arrival. They split into two groups, Rossie and Morgan got in one car while JJ, Reid and Hotch got into the other. As he settled in Morgan called Garcia from the car about the case on the way to the station so she could get caught up with he rests of them.

"Remind me to send a gift basket to Hotch for not waking me up at 5'oclock." Garcia answered the phone with a sigh of relief.

"Hotch sent you the files?" Morgan asked as he looked over to Rossie and grinned.

"Yes and like a the wonderful goddess that I am you would not believe what I found." Gracia said briskly as the sound of typing came through the other end of the phone.

"I'm putting you on speaker phone, tell me what'ch ya got mama." Morgan said as he pulled the phone away from his ear and positioned it in between him and Rossie as he continued driving just behind the other SUV.

"Well I did a little snooping on our victims here and I found out they are not so 'goodie-two-shoes' as the might have seemed. There are numerous reports about the victims being brutal and cruel to their coworkers and even family. Says here they had a forceful way of getting they wanted, but as far as evidence goes they differ from a bad attitude to a ruler wackin' teacher, and I quote, "The scrooge of our century.", is it just me or are these reports becoming more like bad Yelp reviews than actual reports." Garcia said in an arguable, yet comedic tone.

Morgan chuckled, "Thank you sweet cheeks. Call me if you find something new."

"You got it my sculpted god of greatness." Gracia ended the call with the click of a pen and Morgan placed his phone back in his pocket. Rossie shook his head with a smile, 'those two certainly had a form communication', he thought to himself as looked out the window.

Driving to the police station the team got a first-hand look at the town. Buildings were no more the 4 stories tall and overall seemed like a peaceful looking town. Clean, reserved, and frankly kinda nice. There where lots of small groups of homes with large trees and lawns, the downtown area only had about 30-40 buildings-not including residence homes-with very historic designs making the team feel like they hopped back in time.

Pulling up to the station Hotch was surprised to see that it was out of place compared to the other humble homes. The station looked fairly large a dull gray concrete exterior, something you would find in a busy city, not a small suburb town.

Getting out of the vehicle he gestured for his team to follow They too had a hesitant look about the station. Walking through the large glass doors an officer had immediately greeted them on their way in. He was a white male, a little thicker around the edges, and his hair was slowly fading leaving a bald spot above his forehead, and he was older-maybe early 40.

"Hi, you must be the FBI guys. The Sheriff called in, right? I'm Deputy sheriff Peters" he said as he greeted each member with a firm handshake accept for Reid who politely turned down the offer and looked about the man a little longer before moving on to the next room, noting his use of full recognition in rank. Peters gave a confused look but quickly returned gaze back at Hotch. "The big guy should be down the hall with the others, we haven't had a case this big in ages."

"I noticed the upgrade to the station, may I ask what happened to the old one?" Rossie spoke up as they followed Peters down the toneless hallway toward the main entrance to the stations bullpen. Peters back was towards Rossie and the rest of the team, but his head turned to answer as the came to the doors of the bullpen.  
"Huge fire about a year ago. Somethin' about the wiring- we got a huge pension for a new station. I even helped plan the new building, nice huh?" Peters proudly added as he opened the door for the FBI agents. The bullpen was busy with officers answering calls and writing down on papers. There were only about 20 officers, but looked like news spread fast in a small town.

"Was there a press release?" JJ looked around the room as the sound of officers working was in full swing. JJ gave a stressed sigh and lifted her hand to her head. They haven't even started the profile and more the half the town already knew.

Morgan and Rossie gave each other worried looks as the scanned the busy room. Reid looked at Hotch hoping his boss would know what to do, sharing a case like this so soon gave the team a huge disadvantage, the unsub could have fled or even started picking new targets by now.

"Welcome to Milsberth, where gossip flows like a raging river."

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 **A/N: /yeeeeaaahhh, tell what you guys think! I'm fairly new to this whole thing and arts kinda my main suit, but I hope you like it, I'm mainly getting the plot out there I should probably add deeper descriptions but hopefully you guys are figuring out what their wearing or Reids hairstyle lol, I'm trying to give the reader a bit of freedom how you see you favorite character. Thanks for reading and don't worry more chapters or coming**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Yay! new chapter I hope you guys enjoy it I can't wait to start publishing the really drama filled juice chapters but I've so caught up into school work and declaring majors that I had to take a bit of time off, but, all in all, more chapters are coming!I've also edited the first chapter a little bit. don't forget to read and review! 3**

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"Welcome to Milsberth where gossip flows like a raging river"

A man then walked out of the large office on the far wall looking over the bullpen. It was older white male probably around his late fifties, blond hair fading into white and scruff around his face, resembling a beard but not as full.

A smile came to his face as he started walking toward the agents. "Hi, I'm Sheriff Anders" Anders reached out his hand to Hotch who accepted it. "I just want thank you so much for coming out here so quickly, we haven't had something this big in..-O' who knows!" Anders added before clasping his hands to gather, giving a warm smile.

"We understand, is there a room where our team can set up?" Hotch asked, looking around the busy room.

"Far left corner," Anders pointed off into the direction of a conference room, "Sorry if it's a bit small. We have the press in one room and the others filled with numerous accounts on the incidents, but if you ask me it's more about people trying to get their five minutes of fame...I have a few more things to fill out, but if you need me I'll be in my office." Anders looked to Peters. "Make sure they have what they need." Anders then gave a short nod to Hotch and headed off to his office.

Peters looked at Anders condescendingly but returned his attention to the agents leading them to the conference room.

When Sheriff Anders said the room was small he wasn't joking. As the team crowded in they looked around at the little space they had. Peters clearly knew how small it would be and stood outside the doorway and walked back to one of the bullpens small desks in the middle of the room. Morgan wasn't claustrophobic, but there was no way all 5 of them could work in here at once. As the team uncomfortably walked around the table that seemed too large for the room, Hotch was the first to speak up.

"Seeing how words already spread about the killings I suggest we visit some of the family members to find out if our victims had anything in common. Morgan and I well go see the latest victims families, JJ and Rossi you two see what you can find at the morgue, Reid start working on the geographic profile and see what you and Garcia can find out about our victim's personal life."

Reid watched as his teammates pair off and walk out of the small room. It had seemed this case was going way too fast. Reid looked out from the rooms large windows as the team walked out of the building. 'It was strange', Reid thought looking around the busy room, walking over to close the door. The building again seemed outlandish, apart from community's humble simplicity. It was nothing like the houses they saw on their way here. Even from the inside it just didn't fit with the town. The ceilings were too low compared to the average family home, the walls were so gray and dull, but what what struck Reid the most was that each office, being 4 at each corner with the exception of the larger office at the end of the room, had windows giving a perfect view in of what was going on in each office yet the walls themselves had no windows, unable to see outside. The room had been lit with fluorescent lights across the ceiling, but a couple weren't turned on, that or they were broken.

Officer Peters must have noticed him scanning the room because Reid could feel the intense stare Peters was giving from the bullpen. Feeling a bit embarrassed and frankly a little creeped out Reid decided to call Garcia. Pulling phone out Reid began to dial Garcia, but he didn't have to wait long because Gracia had answered with her usual joyful self.

"Supertech to whizkid come in whizkid," Garcia answered with a small giggle at the end.

"Hi Garcia, I need you to look up some information on our victims." Reid said getting straight to the point.

"Sure thing Reid, watch'a need?" Garcia responded already typing away pulling up the information on their victims.

"See if our victims have any similarities with bank accounts such as deposits or withdraws, seeing how each victim is at a higher risk because of their authority and the age it's possible our unsub was looking at a money objective."

"Uh..Lets see..." Garcia began to open up each victim's bank account, scanning each one at rapid speeds. "Sorry sweetcheeks, looks like your average middle-class families, nothing worth killing over. The only thing that might be a good idea to look into is that all of the victims never left the town. A few vacations here and there but all of our victims lived and grew up here."

Reid furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the empty whiteboard fiddling with one of the markers in his free hand. Reid began to mumble under his breath before returning to Garcia on the phone "Garcia does it say anything about if the victims knew each other from a local school?" Looking over at the table, Reid picked up the names of the victims along with their photos from a case file and began to line them up on the whiteboard. "See if they're connected to Catherine Booker, our first victim."

"The retired teacher?..Lets see..She taught at the Milsberth elementary school for 19 years...And, oh! All of our victims went to school there but never had her has a teacher. They were either too old or too young."

"See if you can look through their personal lives to see if they have gone to similar coffee shops or some kind pattern in their spendings."

"Got it, peace out my crime-fighting friend." Garcia then ended the call leaving Reid back to the quite room.

Reid looked at the whiteboard, now having the picture of each victim and small amounts of detail, and began to processes the information. 'There had to be a connection. The deaths were too persist and all the victims worked with the government in some way, so the unsub could feel threatened by it or a personal have vendetta against authority. Most likely younger than the victims.'Reid thought, 'The deaths were particular and looked like the unsub had control over them.' Reid's mind began to collect information like a spiders thread on its web, connecting each one to complete its final design. 'Lack of authority...Vendetta...Younger...Athourty'

Reid was suddenly interrupted by a tap at the door. Turning around he noticed Peters standing before the closed door's window. Turing the knob Peters popped in his head, giving an unconvincing smile as he looked over to Reid. "Hey, You looked a bit lost in here. Anyway I can help?"

Reid looked at Peters with a surprised and questionable look. "Umm.. No I was just-" Reid walked around the large table closer to the door. "Actually, I could use some maps of the town if that's not a problem." Reid said realizing he could pinpoint each death on the map and hopefully look for a way they connected if his hypothesis was right.

Peters gave a nod and was going to turn away, before looking back. He looked down, biting his bottom lip and he was obviously bothered by something. Lifting his head he look at Reid and asked, "Why did they call you Doctor Reid? you seem awful young to be a doctor." Peters scoffed, looking serious, and Reid felt a bit awkward by the out of context question.

"Well, because I am. I have 3 PhD's in Chemistry, Mathematics, Engineering and BAS's in Psychology and Sociology." Reid said as he fiddle his hands together. He wasn't fond of boasting about himself to a complete stranger.

Peters looked at Reid with a irking face "So, what's a genius like you doing at the station while your team is out there doing all the work?" Peters asked in a nasty reply.

"Excuse me?" Reid was felt extremely confused and threatened by Peters sudden peculiar subject of conversation.

"How did you even get into one of the BAU's top teams if they just leave you here like child." Peters stepped closer eyes focused on Reid and arms crossed in an annoyed manner.

Reid just looked at Peters with a loss of words. He felt like he was being attacked and looked around the room. Somehow the room felt a lot smaller than it already was.

Peters gave a low grunt and walked out of the room mumbling low under his breath "..I'll get your maps, _Doctor_.."

Reid was left alone, again. The door still slightly opened as he watched as peters walked to the end of the bullpen and assumingly to the storage to get the map. Peters was like a whole different person when they met him, and he had seemed like a pretty simple man, but now Reid feared he had given the wrong impression.

Reid almost jumped when the sound of his phone went off. He quickly picked his phone up, bring it to his ear.

"Hey Spence, we're on our way back from the morgue. Turns out our victims were injected with high amounts of Adenosine."

It was JJ on the phone, but Reid still at awe at the Peters incident he didn't quite catch what JJ said.

"Reid?" JJ asked him, soudning worried that he hadnt replyed yet.

"Oh..Sorry umm...Adenosine?" Reids voice sounded croaky, but giving a small cough he returned to his normal tone. "That's a drug used in patients to lower heart rates. It affects a patient, or in this case our victims, almost immediately. But once injected when overdosed it can be fatal leaving our victims inoperative yet fully conscious."

"And thats not good, turns out there were multiple enjections couasing the victoms to be helpless for hours and with each new victom the ducege and number of injections where longer."

"But there were no signs of a struggle or abuse. What was he doing with the victims?" Reid asked JJ as he walked back to the white board writing down the new information.

"I dont know, but I have a feeling it wasn't good."JJ answered and gave a pause before starting off again "Hey, are you okay?"

Reid thought about what happend only a few mowments ago and whether he should tell JJ or not.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Okay...We'll see you in a bit." JJ replied, still uncertain and hanged up the phone

Reid hoped that his little fit with Peters was one-time thing and that he was just over thinking a simple question. Or maybe didnt. He pondered the question as he worked on the geographic profile.

Reid gathered up the case files on the desk as officer peters walked in with a pile of maps.

"Here we go, _Doctor_ Ried" Peters said and place the pile of maps on the table. Some were small and somewhere large, each one showing a different part of the town and the forest surrounding, and even a travelers brochure. "I got all the maps I could find. I hope this helps."

"Thank you." Reid said as he searched through the maps, looking for the largest one of an arrival view.

Peters lingered in the room and turned around with a pitiful face. "Doctor Reid, sorry about early. I was merely upset that with your title you weren't in the field with the rest of your team." Peters apologized.

Reid felt a wave of relief. "No problem, thank you for your concern. I'm perfectly capable of helping my team just as much inside than out in the field." Although Peters seemed all and well, Reid noticed as he clenched his fist. His face might have seemed polite and thankful, but his actions showed otherwise. This gave a Reid an uneasy feeling.

Reid was glad that the problem was somewhat resolved and watched as Peters left the room. Looking over to his left, Reid noticed Sheriff Anders Walking toward him with a bright smile.

"How are you settling in?" Anders asked walking up to the small room.

"Good, thank you." Reid graciously replied.

"Peters treating you well? You know he's one of our best men-the town loves him." Anders said looking out to the bullpen like a proud father.

Reid looked at Anders, then at Peters to see a small family of three walked out of the witness room, greeting Peters all smiling and talking to each other. Reid still wondered about the incident before and what he saw now. Peters seemed like well-known guy, but there was something about him he couldn't quite figure out he seemed...fake. Like he was playing a role.

"How did Peters become deputy?" Reid asked curiously looking at Sheriff Anders

"Oh well, you see only about three years ago Peters was a regular townsfolk. Yep, working as a janitor can you believe it?" Anders laughed. "You see Peters saved a lot of people- a town hero so to speak. I guess he found what he loved because it wasnt long before he came to work here and soon enough he pushed his way through the ranks." Anders smiled looking out into the bullpen.

Reid wondered how a janitor could somehow be the deputy in only a few years. It seemed unrealistic. Even though Peters had apologized for earlier, and yet Reid was still unsure if he could trust him.  
He decided to keep it to himself until further notice.

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 **A/N Yay! I'm going to write more and I hope you guys and gals liked this chapter tell me what you think and if you have any questions feel free to ask! ;)**


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